Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent


Meredith Small - 1998
    But as scientists are discovering, much of the trusted advice that has been passed down through generations needs to be carefully reexamined.A thought-provoking combination of practical parenting information and scientific analysis, Our Babies, Ourselves is the first book to explore why we raise our children the way we do--and to suggest that we reconsider our culture's traditional views on parenting.In this ground-breaking book, anthropologist Meredith Small reveals her remarkable findings in the new science of ethnopediatrics. Professor Small joins pediatricians, child-development researchers, and anthropologists across the country who are studying to what extent the way we parent our infants is based on biological needs and to what extent it is based on culture--and how sometimes what is culturally dictated may not be what's best for babies.Should an infant be encouraged to sleep alone? Is breast-feeding better than bottle-feeding, or is that just a myth of the nineties? How much time should pass before a mother picks up her crying infant? And how important is it really to a baby's development to talk and sing to him or her?These are but a few of the important questions Small addresses, and the answers not only are surprising but may even change the way we raise our children.

The Happiest Mom (Parenting Magazine): 10 Secrets to Enjoying Motherhood


Meagan Francis - 2011
    From the experts at Parenting magazine and popular mommy blogger Meagan Francis, The Happiest Mom brings the latest happiness research--and the experience of a mother of five--to moms who want to make parenting a little more joyful. With its straightforward humor, honesty, and insight, The Happiest Mom is a must-have for both new and veteran moms.In The Happiest Mom, author Meagan Francis shows us that motherhood is not an obstacle to joy. Drawing on recent happiness research, conversations with hundreds of other moms, and her own experience as a mother of five, Francis shares her ten secrets to happy motherhood in this down-to-earth, funny, and accessible book. Praise for The Happiest Mom: "This book takes the revolutionary approach that you can be a good parent while actually enjoying yourself."--Ada Calhoun, author of Instinctive Parenting "The Happiest Mom is packed with the sort of advice you need when you are about to lose it. Every mom needs this book."--Jenna McCarthy, author of The Parent Trap "I found myself underlining passages and laughing out loud in recognition. This thoughtful, hilarious look at motherhood is a terrific resource for anyone who wants to be the happiest mother she can be."--Gretchen Rubin, author of The New York Times bestseller The Happiness Project "Reading this book is like chatting with your girlfriend and getting all the support, advice, and laughs you need."--Brett Paesal, author of Mommies Who Drink "The Happiest Mom is stuffed with tips that made us feel relieved rather than burdened."--Heather Flett and Whitney Moss, coauthors of The Rookie Mom's Handbook

Changing Diapers: The Hip Mom's Guide to Modern Cloth Diapering


Kelly Wels - 2011
    Wels is a well-known powerhouse advocate and has become the main voice in the industry. The marketplace for this book is constant, as the US birthrate hovers over 4 million babies born per year, and the word is getting out about the benefits of using modern cloth versus disposables. Wels is a continuous presence on her popular blogs and is often featured by other bloggers in the industry. When Wels talks, her audience listens and responds, and her audience grows. She even received a Congressional Award for her work from Maine Senator Olympia Snow. These are not your mother's cloth diapers!

Mayo Clinic Guide to Your Baby's First Year: From Doctors Who Are Parents, Too!


Mayo Clinic - 2012
    When you're faced with a perplexing development, reach for this complete Guide by the baby experts at the renowned Mayo Clinic By doctors who are also parents.Yikes, you're suddenly parents, home alone with your brand-new baby! Where's your own mother or smart friend;where's your pediatrician; when you desperately need reassurance and advice? Mayo Clinic Guide to Your Baby's First Year is a steady, ever-present source of both information and wisdom. When you're faced with a perplexing development, reach for this complete Guide by the baby experts at the renowned Mayo Clinic. When you wonder what might happen next, check the "Month-by-Month Growth and Development" pages of this trusted companion.

Sleeping with Your Baby: A Parent's Guide to Cosleeping


James J. McKenna - 2007
    Sleeping With Your Baby: A Parent's Guide is your guide to understanding how to make nighttimes with your baby safe, fun and relaxing! Written by James McKenna, the world's authority on co-sleeping.

The Good Sleeper: The Essential Guide to Sleep for Your Baby--and You


Janet Krone Kennedy - 2015
    This book is a straightforward, no-nonsense answer to one of the biggest challenges new parents face when they welcome a brand new baby home. This book is written for exhausted parents, giving them immediate access to the information they need. Reassuring and easy to understand, Dr. Kennedy addresses head-on the fears and misinformation about the long-term effects of crying and takes a bold stand on controversial issues such as co-sleeping and attachment parenting. With polarizing figures and techniques dominating the marketplace—and spawning misinformation across the internet—Dr. Kennedy's methods and practices create an extensively researched and parent-tested approach to sleep training that takes both babies' and parents' needs into account to deliver good nights and days of sleep, and no small dose of peace of mind. The Good Sleeper is a practical, empowering—and even entertaining—guide to help parents understand infant sleep. This research-based book will teach parents the basics of sleep science, determine how and when to intervene, and provide tools to solve even the most seemingly impossible sleep problems.

Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason


Alfie Kohn - 2005
    In this truly groundbreaking book, nationally respected educator Alfie Kohn begins instead by asking "What do kids need — and how can we meet those needs?" What follows from that question are ideas for working with children rather than doing things to them. One basic need all children have, Kohn argues, is to be loved unconditionally, to know that they will be accepted even if they screw up or fall short. Yet conventional approaches to parenting such as punishments (including "time-outs"), rewards (including positive reinforcement), and other forms of control teach children that they are loved only when they please us or impress us. Kohn cites a body of powerful, and largely unknown, research detailing the damage caused by leading children to believe they must earn our approval. That's precisely the message children derive from common discipline techniques, even though it's not the message most parents intend to send. More than just another book about discipline, though, Unconditional Parenting addresses the ways parents think about, feel about, and act with their children. It invites them to question their most basic assumptions about raising kids while offering a wealth of practical strategies for shifting from "doing to" to "working with" parenting — including how to replace praise with the unconditional support that children need to grow into healthy, caring, responsible people. This is an eye-opening, paradigm-shattering book that will reconnect readers to their own best instincts and inspire them to become better parents.

Toddlers Are A**holes: It's Not Your Fault


Bunmi Laditan - 2015
    It’s just that a little psychopath who walks through life 100% convinced that he or she is the center of the universe does not care that you have a heart, a mind, or a soul. You are simply a skin-covered robot tall enough to reach the candy on top of the fridge. And clean up the rage-vomit when you make the fatal mistake of cutting off the crust on your toddler’s toast. (Or not cutting it off—seriously, you can’t win.)Includes:The theory of toddler evolution Mealtime (AKA Hell)Your unraveling lifeAnd how not to die inside

Work. Pump. Repeat.: The New Mom's Survival Guide to Breastfeeding and Going Back to Work


Jessica Shortall - 2015
                                            Meet the frenemy of every working, breastfeeding mother: the breast pump. Many women are beyond “breast is best” and on to figuring out how to make milk while returning to demanding jobs. Work. Pump. Repeat. is the first book to give women what they need to know beyond the noise of the “Mommy Wars” and judgment on breastfeeding choices. Jessica Shortall shares the nitty-gritty basics of surviving the working world as a breastfeeding mom, offering a road map for negotiating the pumping schedule with colleagues, navigating business travel, and problem-solving when forced to pump in less-than-desirable locales. Drawing on the war stories, hacks, and humor of working moms, and on her own stories from her demanding job and travel in developing countries, she gives women moral support for dealing with the stress and guilt that come with juggling working and breastfeeding. As she tells the reader in her witty, inspiring manifesto, “Your worth as a mother is not measured in ounces.”                                 2015 Axiom Business Book Award Winner (Silver) in the category of Women/Minorities

Baby 411: Clear Answers & Smart Advice for Your Baby's First Year


Denise Fields - 2004
    Spock meets Judge Judy--finally a parenting book that separates fact from fiction. What if you could bottle the wisdom of all those parents who've come before you...and combine them with the sold medical advice from an award-winning pediatrician? Baby 411 is the answer.

The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth


Henci Goer - 1999
    But when it comes to one of the most important decisions of your life--how you will give birth—it is hard to gather accurate, unbiased information. Surprisingly, much of the research does not support common medical opinion and practice.Birth activist Henci Goer gives clear, concise information based on the latest medical studies. The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth helps you compare and contrast your various options and shows you how to avoid unnecessary procedures, drugs, restrictions, and tests. The book covers:CesareansBreech babiesInducing laborElectronic Fetal MonitoringRupturing MembranesCoping with slow laborPain medicationEpistiotomyVaginal birth after a CeasareanDoulasDeciding on a doctor or midwifeChoosing where to have your babyand much more . . .

Bedtiming: The Parent’s Guide to Getting Your Child to Sleep at Just the Right Age


Marc Lewis - 2009
    Developmental psychologists Marc D. Lewis and Isabela Granic reveal that the key to your child’s sleep habits is not which method you choose to help your child sleep, but when you use it. Timing is everything, and Bedtiming walks you through the stages of child development, offering helpful advice on such topics as: • time windows when sleep-training will be most effective and when it will stand the least chance of success • the pros and cons of several popular sleep-training techniques—including the “cry-it-out,” “no-cry,” and Ferber methods • common sleep setbacks and how to handle them • how to successfully transition your child from your bed to his or her own crib or bed.Bedtiming is a simple, sensible, and reassuring guide that will help children—and parents—get a good night’s sleep.

Twelve Hours' Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old: A Step-By-Step Plan for Baby Sleep Success


Suzy Giordano - 2006
    In this simple, straightforward book, Suzy Giordano presents her amazingly effective "Limited- Crying Solution" that will get any baby to sleep for twelve hours at night—and three hours in the day—by the age of twelve weeks old.Giordano is the mother of five children and one of the most sought-after baby sleep specialists in the country. The Washington Post calls her a baby sleep "guru" and "an underground legend in the Washington area for her ability to teach newborns how to achieve that parenting nirvana: sleeping through the night." Her sleep plan has been tested with singletons, twins, triplets, babies with special needs, and colicky babies—and it has never failed.Whether you are pregnant, first-time parents, or parents who seek a different path with your second or third child, anyone can benefit from the Baby Coach’s popular system of regular feeding times, twelve hours of sleep at night and three hours of sleep during the day, and the peace of mind that comes with taking the parent and child out of a sleep- deprived world.

Rest, Play, Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (Or Anyone Who Acts Like One


Deborah MacNamara - 2016
    Parents and caregivers struggle with these little ones, who are known for their extreme behaviour, from tantrums, resistance, and aggression to separation anxiety, bedtime protests, and not listening. The key to understanding youngsters lies in realizing that their challenging behaviour is not personal, nor is it a disorder or deficit.Based on science and the relational developmental approach of renowned psychologist and bestselling author Gordon Neufeld, Rest, Play, Grow reveals how critical adults are in shaping the conditions to ensure young children flourish. This is the story of how young children develop, from their intense need for attachment and the vital importance of play to discipline that preserves growth. Engagingly written, with compassion for its subjects and rich with stories from them and their parents, Rest, Play, Grow will forever change the way you think of the preschoolers in your life.DR. DEBORAH MACNAMARA is a clinical counsellor and educator with more than twenty-five years experience working with children, youth, and adults. She is on faculty at the Neufeld Institute, operates a counselling practice, and speaks regularly about child and adolescent development to parents, childcare providers, educators, and mental health professionals. She continues to write, do radio and television interviews, and speak to the needs of children and youth based on developmental science. Deborah resides in Vancouver, Canada, with her husband and two children.

The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips & Advice on First-Year Maintenance


Louis Borgenicht - 2003
    But none of this experience will prepare you for the world’s biggest technological marvel: a newborn baby.   Through step-by-step instructions and helpful schematic diagrams, The Baby Owner’s Manual explores hundreds of frequently asked questions: What’s the best way to swaddle a baby? How can I make my newborn sleep through the night? When should I bring the baby to a doctor for servicing? Whatever your concerns, you’ll find the answers here—courtesy of celebrated pediatrician Dr. Louis Borgenicht and his son, Joe Borgenicht. Together, they provide plenty of useful advice for anyone who wants to learn the basics of childcare.